The Buddha: In His Own Words at the Cambridge YMCA

This original one-man play brings to the stage the life of the Buddha in his own words -- the evolution of his thought, the triumphs and the rarely portrayed tragedy at the end of his life. The Buddha uses authentic texts to tell the extraordinary life of the man, start to finish.

Reviews & Ratings

Dialogue was fair, very basic info on life of Buddha, not terribly inspiring.
could of done more with scenery to make it more visually appealing.
Seats at Camb YMCA were very uncomfortable. It was open seating so it didn't matter whether you bought a more or less expensive ticket.

I thought the Boston Globe Review of this play was spot-on. Although the Cambridge YMCA was a bit lacking (we could hear noise from activities in other parts of the building) the show itself was phenomenal.

Website

Quotes & Highlights

The show was a _Boston Globe Pick of the Week. _
“Wonderfully entertaining…Marvelous to experience.”_ —Boston Metro_
Click to read reviews of a previous run of The Buddha: In His Own Words at Boston Center for the Arts.

Description

This original one-man play brings to the stage the life of the Buddha in his own words — the evolution of his thought, the triumphs and the rarely portrayed tragedy at the end of his life.

The man we know as the Buddha lived in India around 500BC and introduced the teaching known as Buddhism. Approximately 300 years after his death, an extensive oral history of the movement was written down, carried throughout Asia, and this canon became the taproot of the entire Buddhist tradition.

Relying exclusively on these ancient texts, the show enacts the life of the man and development of his philosophy. It’s no dry tale — The Buddha’s story stands among the great archetypal adventure stories.